The prophecy is dated the first of the twelfth month of the twelfth year, nearly a year and seven months after the fall of Jerusalem. Syr. reads _eleventh_year. Final prophecy against Pharaoh The chapter contains two parts: First, Ezekiel 32:1. A lament over Pharaoh. Second, Ezekiel 32:17. A fun... [ Continue Reading ]
_art like a young lion_ Perhaps: _wast likened to_, though the construction is exceedingly hard (cf. Ezekiel 31:18). So far as the form of words goes the meaning might rather be: O lion of the nations _thou art undone_(Isaiah 6:5; Hosea 10:15), the root being another. The prophet has a fondness, how... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah shall drag him out with his net by means of many peoples (Ezekiel 32:11). On figure, cf. Ezekiel 12:13; Ezekiel 17:20; Hosea 7:12. For people read PEOPLES.... [ Continue Reading ]
_will leave thee_ Will CAST THEE DOWN; cf. Ezekiel 29:5. See Ezekiel 31:13; Ezekiel 39:17 _seq_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Ezekiel 31:12 Other suggestions for "height" have little probability.... [ Continue Reading ]
_land wherein thou swimmest_ Probably: and I WILL WATER THE EARTH WITH THE OUTFLOW OF THY BLOOD, lit, with thy outflow from thy blood. It is possible that "from thy blood" is an explanatory gloss to "with thy outflow." Cf. Isaiah 34:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_put thee out_ i.e. extinguish thee. Pharaoh is regarded as a brilliant luminary; cf. Isaiah 14:12, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O shining one, morning star!" It is doubtful if there is any ref. to the constellation of the dragon. The dragon (Job 3:8; Job 9:13; Job 26:12) is not a constellation... [ Continue Reading ]
_bright lights_ Lit. luminaries of light. _upon thy land_ Possibly with LXX.: upon _the earth_. The extinction of the lights in heaven referred to in the previous clause suggests a more general darkness than one over Pharaoh's own land.... [ Continue Reading ]
_vex the hearts_ Or, TROUBLE. The precise feeling is not grief, and certainly not anger (A. V. marg.); in Ezekiel 32:10 it is dismay, and then terror for themselves. For people PEOPLES. _bring thy destruction among_ Hardly means "bring the news" of thy destruction; the destruction itself occurs amo... [ Continue Reading ]
Read PEOPLES, as always. Cf. Ezekiel 26:16; Ezekiel 27:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is the king of Babylon who shall execute the Lord's judgment upon Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
_terrible of the nations_ Cf. on Ezekiel 28:7; Ezekiel 29:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
The desolation of Egypt shall be complete, man and beast swept away; cf. Zephaniah 1:3. These pictures both of desolation and felicity are always ideal; cf. Ezekiel 29:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
The waters of Egypt, no more troubled by the foot of man or beast, shall run smooth like oil. _make their waters deep_ Rather: MAKE TO SETTLE, become clear; cf. noun, Ezekiel 34:18. No more trampled they shall settle and run smooth.... [ Continue Reading ]
The end of this desolating judgment shall be that Jehovah shall be known. This is the purpose and the effect of all his interpositions among the nations. Exodus 7:5; Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lit. _It is a lamentation and they shall chant it_(LXX. thou shalt chant it); _the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt and over all her multitude shall they chant it_. The daughters of the nations, in Ezekiel 32:18 the daughters of the famous nations, chant the dirge because professi... [ Continue Reading ]
The month is not specified, but presumably the same month as that named in Ezekiel 32:1 is intended, the twelfth. The present passage would in that case date a fortnight later than Ezekiel 32:1. LXX. reads _first_month of twelfth year; if this reading were followed the year in Ezekiel 32:1 must be r... [ Continue Reading ]
Dirge sung at the interment of Egypt and its multitude Several things are observable in this remarkable passage: 1. It is a funeral dirge primarily over the multitude or nation of Egypt; and so in the case of the other nations referred to, Asshur, Elam and the rest. These peoples are all gone down... [ Continue Reading ]
The lament is primarily over the multitude or nationality of Egypt. _cast them down_, even _her_ Probably: and SINK THEM DOWN, THOU AND THE DAUGHTERS OF FAMOUS NATIONS. In Ezekiel 32:16 the daughters of the nations were spoken of as chanting the dirge over Pharaoh and his multitude. The prophet (LXX... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whom … pass in beauty_ i.e. surpass; Ew., pass in fortune. Probably the meaning is very much, To whom art (wast) thou superior? The multitude of Egypt or the Pharaoh as the genius of the nation is addressed, hardly his dead body (Sm.). _go down_ i.e. to the grave, or pit. "Uncircumcised" has in al... [ Continue Reading ]
_she is delivered to the sword_ Rather: THE SWORD IS PUT FORTH, lit. _given_, a peculiar phrase and wanting in LXX. _draw her_ i. e. Egypt down into the pit. The simple "draw" leaves rather much to be understood, and LXX. reads the clause differently: and all his multitude shall lie.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Pharaoh and his multitude are supposed here to have descended into Sheòl, and the "mighty ones" already there address them (Isaiah 14:8; Isaiah 14:10) or speak of them. _The strong among the mighty_ lit. the _strong of the mighty_, where "strong" is not a class among the mighty, but identical wi... [ Continue Reading ]
Asshur. _her company_ In ref. to the other peoples "multitude" is used. The term "company" may be used of the many nationalities in the Assyrian empire, cf. Ezekiel 23:24. _his graves … him_ The gender varies as the country (fem.) or king, as representative of the people, is thought of. The ref. h... [ Continue Reading ]
_sides of the pit_ i.e. the depths or bottom of the pit. _caused terror_ Cf. Ezekiel 26:17; Ezekiel 26:20. This phrase must mean that Asshur inspired terror into the nations by his might; to suppose that the meaning is that the _fate_of Asshur by the judgment of God caused terror (Hitz.) is altoget... [ Continue Reading ]
Elam. Elam, said to mean Highlands, lay E. of the Tigris, and touched Assyria and Media on the N., Media and Persia on the E., and on the S. the Persian Gulf. An early expedition of Elam into the land of the Jordan is referred to Genesis 14:1 _seq_. The country was incorporated into the Assyrian em... [ Continue Reading ]
_though their terror_ FOR their terror … AND THEY HAVE BORNE, &c. The verse is greatly a repetition of Ezekiel 32:24, and is wanting in LXX., except the words "in the midst of the slain," which are attached to Ezekiel 32:24. The words "that are gone down to the pit" usually close the verse, Ezekiel... [ Continue Reading ]
Meshech and Tubal. See on Ezekiel 27:13; cf. Ezekiel 38:2. _her graves … him_ On genders cf. Ezekiel 32:22. _though they caused_ FOR they caused.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they shall not lie_ LXX. Syr. omit the neg.: _and they are laid_with the giants. Ew. would retain the neg., reading as an interrogation with an affirmative sense: and shall they not lie with …?, which is not very natural. _fallen of the uncircumcised_ LXX. fallen _of old_. This reading has conside... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, thou shalt_ THOU ALSO SHALT. The Pharaoh is addressed. The phrase "shalt be broken" is wanting in LXX. "thou also shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that have been slain with the sword.... [ Continue Reading ]
Edom. Cf. Ezekiel 25:12. _with their might_ Possibly, _because of_the words might and mighty being used in a bad sense. Otherwise the words might signify: _notwithstanding_their might. _are laid by_them] i.e. WITH, or, BESIDE them. The term "laid," lit. given, means rather put, _consigned_. _them... [ Continue Reading ]
The princes of the North and the Sidonians. The former are probably those of the Syrian states, and the Sidonians represent the Phœnician principalities in general. _with their terror_ Rather, in close connexion with the preceding, GONE DOWN WITH THE SLAIN, BECAUSE OF (notwithstanding) THEIR TERROR... [ Continue Reading ]
_comforted over all his multitude_ The Heb. order is: over all his multitude, slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his army, saith, &c. The words "slain with … his army" are wanting in LXX. On "comforted," cf. Ezekiel 14:22; Ezekiel 31:16. Pharaoh will be "comforted" by the sight of all these... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have caused my terror_ So Heb. marg., Heb. text, _his_terror, as all the versions except Vulg. Throughout the passage "to cause terror" is uniformly employed of the conduct of the various nations when on the stage of history. If used of Jehovah here it would be intended to express a vivid contras... [ Continue Reading ]